The Senate’s Continuing Resolution

September 27, 2016

What is a Continuing Resolution (CR)? A CR is legislation that keeps annual discretionary programs operating beyond the end of the fiscal year (FY). It provides funding—usually at the same level as the previous year’s enacted amount—for a limited amount of time and typically keeps current policy in place, although anomalies or “riders” are possible.

The Current State of Play. This year, the Senate is expected to act first on a CR for FY17. On Sept. 20, the Senate voted 89-7 to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to H.R. 5325, Legislative Branch Appropriations Act for 2017, which is the vehicle the Senate will use to carry a full substitute of the CR text. On Sept. 22, Leader McConnell offered S.A. 5082—the actual CR substitute text—and scheduled a cloture vote to end debate, which is expected to occur on Tuesday, Sept. 27.

What’s in the CR? The Senate CR includes funding only through Dec. 9; therefore, Congress will have to take further action in a lame duck session to continue FY17 funding. Below are highlights:

FY17 Funding________________

Base Funding = $1,067 billion

OCO Funding = $74 billion

Disaster Relief = $6.7 billion

Program Integrity = $1.5 billion

Additional FY16 Funding_______

Zika Emergency = $1.1 billion

Zika Offsets = -$400 million

Disaster Relief = $500 million

Policy ______________________

Includes full-year appropriations for Veterans Affairs and Military Construction.

No additional money to address local water contamination in Flint, Michigan.

No Zika-related funding limitations for Pro Familias, but Hyde Amendment protections against taxpayer funding of abortions remain in force.

No loosening of quorum requirements for Export-Import Bank loan approvals.

Since the 1930s, the House and Senate have considered dozens of balanced budget amendments. While they often vary in form, all accomplish the same goal: a balanced budget, enforceable by the Constitution.